A Strange Attraction
by Razor-007
Summary: Master Cyclonis ponders about her encounter with a certain sky knight. Set after Five Days. First of a series.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Storm Hawks or any of its ideas, characters, or anything else that comes out of its universe. So don't sue.**

A Strange Attraction

Cyclonis sat in her large padded chair in her study trying to calmly think. Her feet sat on a large dark burgundy foot stool that was in front of her. Her feet were covered with small slippers and a dark red nights rob clung to her body. The coffee table next to her had a few crystals strewn about on it and some handwritten notes sticking out of an old text. The central object on the table wasn't any of her current work, it was a small crystal that held her fondest memory; her mother. When Snipe had broken the crystal with his incompetence she had been crushed. She was torn between tearing off his arms and fatally beating him with them or breaking down in tears.

The crystal wasn't really anything special, it was a common one used by almost everyone in the Atmos for storing common things like pictures all the way up to detailed schematics and lengthy documents. Her crystal however contained the latter, a simple picture that Cyclonis would give her empire for; her and her mother. The picture was taken nearly ten years prior and depicted herself in her younger year's sitting on her mother's lap. Her mother had been a strong and wonderful leader of Cyclonia and was loved by all her citizens.

She had been crushed when her mother had been killed all those years ago and now she was getting vengeance on those who had ruined her family. She was finding though that she was going to need to make some changes to her approach if she wanted to win. She hadn't yet to revealed even a fraction of her fleet or resources to her enemy's but had been suffering unacceptable looses lately.

Many of these losses came at the hands of the Storm Hawks themselves, and this is where her current mood was coming from. Cyclonis sipped her tea and continued to stare into the dancing flames of her fireplace as her mind struggled to comprehend the battle that was raging between her head and her heart.

Her latest encounter with them had yielded some strange results and she wasn't sure how to comprehend them. It had only been three days ago that she had hunted down the Storm Hawks and retrieved the crystal that she needed to fix her precious picture. She had been livid when she found that they had the crystal, mainly because most sky knights would never steal to benefit themselves; but apparently the Storm Hawks were above that. This simple occurrence had boiled her blood, they fought her and condemned everything she and her people did and then they turnaround and do the same thing with little or none of the same malice they felt for her directed towards themselves.

She had truly wanted to hurt Aerrow when she entered their ship. Her mind was blinded by malice at the thought of loosing one of the last things that reminded her of her mother, but this changed. She kept her icy façade as she battled them, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for Aerrow; he was in a full body cast after all. Her intelligence network had later told her that he had an "accident" on his ship, probably meaning one of his oafish friends had done something stupid.

Cyclonis adjusted her night robe around herself and tried to logically think about what had happened. It had hurt her in a way that she didn't think possible for him to hurt her when he had assumed that she needed the crystal for some diabolical plan and not for the personal reasons that she did need it for. She almost wanted to tell him the truth, she wanted to say that she was no different then him and the crystal was needed to heal her; she wanted to say that something special to her was at stake but she simply couldn't.

She could see that there was something other then hate in his eyes at that moment. Maybe it was because in her eyes sat the same look and for a second she thought that he might actually understand. These feelings still stuck with her even after she left and were still plaguing her. Her musings were interrupted by a loud knock on her chamber doors.

"Enter" she said as her voice carried in the cavernous room.

Ravess entered the room looking pleased with herself. She bowed with respect and stood in front of her.

"Master we have seceded" she said with an air of confidence.

"Excellent work Ravess" she said smiling at her older subordinate. Now this was good news and she needed some.

"Thank you master" Ravess replied.

"So the dragons are secure?" she asked finishing her tea. She pressed a call button and a servant was quickly in the room pouring her more tea. At her request the pot and the rest of the serving tray were left in the room on a table on the other side of her chair.

"Yes, they have been transferred to the preserve as per your request" Ravess replied, holding her comments until the servant had left the room.

"Any problems?" she asked, almost afraid of the possible answer.

"None" she said, eliciting a smile from the young ruler.

"Their keeper Rinjiin was ecstatic that they could be moved into a place like that" she replied.

"He had no problem with it being Cyclonian?" she added, sipping her new cup of tea.

"He cared only about the dragons and their safety" Ravess said as she took a seat opposite to her young ruler.

"Plus when he arrived and learned everything he was more then happy to be a citizen of the Empire" she added

"Excellent and the sky knights?" Cyclonis asked almost hopping they had put up a fight and her forces had crushed them.

"Rinjiin has informed them he is hiding the dragons and they will no longer be needed" Ravess said picking a small dragon scale off her boots.

"And they accepted this?" she replied, surprised that they had actually let such a prestigious opportunity slip from their grasp.

"Yes" Ravess replied. She smirked obviously thinking some of the same thoughts that Cyclonis herself was.

"Perfect" Cyclonis replied, rather pleased with the success of the plan.

Cyclonis had been very intrigued when the rumors she had heard about dragons were true. In her youth she had been told the same stories about dragons as any child of Atmos, but she had also been told others. Terra Cyclonia had many dragons in the past and they were worshipped by her ancestors and the reason her people had taken to the skies.

True they had hunted them in the past but unlike others they realized the error of their ways. As the dragons disappeared her ancestor, a previous Master Clyconis had created a great dragon preserve. The enormous Terra was located right near the northern opening in the Barrier Cliffs that was under Cyclonian control; of course no one knew that as it was located deep in the uncharted Atmos; well uncharted to the rest of Atmos. The preserve was located at that location because the opening in the cliffs was a major dragon migration route, for centuries dragons flew threw the opening to mate and congregate. Now the Terra served as a home for many dragons, some still flew free in what was called the uncharted Atmos and many existed in the vast Cyclonian Empire on the other side of the Barrier Cliffs.

Master Cyclonis had fond memories both with and without her mother of going to the preserve. Baby dragons were always very affectionate to her and she felt at ease there. Many of the full grown dragons had been raised over decades and centuries by her family and they all recognized her and were wonderful to her, while at the same time sometimes trying to bar-b-q others. She always loved riding on their scaly backs flying in the air, it was nothing like her skimmer; it was far greater.

"What of the Storm Hawks?" Cyclonis asked, seeing Ravess smirk at the question.

"My spies tell me they are quite confused" she replied.

"Apparently they can't figure out why, after all their trouble, Rinjiin just up and disappeared" she said smiling like Cyclonis hadn't seen her smile in years.

"Well I'm sure that Aerrow would approve" she added. Unfortunately as she sipped her tea she caught the expression on Ravess's face. She soon realized what she had let slip.

"Master?" Ravess asked looking concerned with her leader.

"It is nothing Ravess" she replied, trying to hold back her true feelings.

"Of course Master" Ravess said.

Ravess rose to leave but stopped by her young master's side. She peered down at the picture emanating from the crystal and slightly understood. Master Cyclonis was still, despite her great responsibilities, very young after all. She laid a hand on her shoulder and spoke softly.

"If there is anything Master do not hesitate to ask" Ravess said.

"Even about affairs of the heart" she added quickly before leaving the room and the young ruler with only her thoughts and the roar of the fire.

Cyclonis was slightly livid at Ravess's last comment but perhaps it was because it seemed so right. Perhaps what was bothering her about her last encounter with the Storm Hawks was simply Aerrow. Did she have some form of romantic interest for him? Perhaps she was kidding herself; he would never feel the same about her.

All these thoughts whirled about in her head as she tried to make sense of them all. As the ruler of Cyclonia and the last of the royal family she would one day be duty bound to marry and produce an heir. Despite being so young she sometimes though about who she would end up with. She was not an easy person to get along with and she knew this so she sometimes worried about it, despite the long length of time until she would actually have to worry about it. Aerrow would make a fine man to be at her side, but she was getting ahead of herself; first she would have to reconcile exactly what her feelings were.

She considered what her mother would have told her, were she still around. She could see her mother telling her on the one hand that she should grow a backbone and as a member of the Imperial family of Cyclonia that she could have whatever she wanted and if she wanted Aerrow then she would get him. On the other hand she could also see her mother holding her tight and running her hand through her daughter's dark hair. She would tell her that it was alright and every girl her age, even herself, went through these things and she would figure out everything for herself in due time.

Cyclonis sat comfortably in her chair as she pondered the events of the past few days, but mainly the past few hours. She wasn't sure what was going on with her feelings and with Aerrow but she would find out, she was Cyclonian; her people simply didn't give up. She vowed to herself that she would fix this and also that she would visit the dragon sanctuary soon and enjoy herself. A smile crept onto her face as she finished the last of her tea and picked up her book and notes so she could get back to work.


End file.
